Newark — Tatsuro Taira will look to become the UFC’s first-ever Japanese champion when he faces Joshua Van for flyweight gold at UFC 328 this Saturday.
The match-up was originally booked for UFC 327 in Miami last month, only for Van to pull out due to injury. On the plus side, the fight was quickly rebooked. On the negative, Taira had supporters flying in from Japan to see him fight. They had to change travel plans, from Miami to Newark.
“It’s not easy, but my team always supported me, so my supporters, my friends were flying all the way from Okinawa to watch my fight,” noted Taira on Wednesday. “The postponement was tough for them.”
Van, in his own media day appearance on Wednesday, suggested that the UFC 328 co-main event was the biggest ever for Asian fight fans, given both champ and challenger are Asian-born: Van in Myanmar, Taira in Japan.
Taira agrees with that assessment. “It’s very important, this fight, for Asia. I think we have to improve more, and simply want to spread more of the UFC to Japan and Asia,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press.
As for Van’s win over Alexandre Pantoja, which came early in their fight last December when the champ went down due to injury, Taira suggest that given the circumstances, “we have to prove who’s the real champion [in] this fight.”
Should he come out of UFC 328 victorious, it’s the Brazilian Tatsuro Taira wants to defend against. “I think Pantoja first.”
Watch the full UFC 328 media day appearance by Tatsuro Taira above.
